Pokemon Ranger Academy: The Final Exam
by Scarlet-Dragoness
Summary: Three students of the rigorous Pokemon Ranger Academy face their toughest mission yet: passing their final exam. With a foul-mouthed girl, a guy who isn't what he seems, and a guy obsessed with sweets, can these three actually manage, or will they fail?
1. Chapter 1

**Alrighty! ****This ****is ****my ****first ****fic, ****so ****I'm ****really ****excited. ****I ****will ****be ****switching ****viewpoints ****every ****chapter, ****so ****be ****prepared. ****Other ****than ****that, ****enjoy! Also, I do not own Pokemon, just my two OTs.**

Kaylee hurried along, grumbling to herself as she got off the boat where she was supposed to meet her partner. She was on her way to begin her Final Exam for the Academy, and had been placed in the Advanced group, much to her surprise. She personally thought that she had done horribly at the Academy, all the various times she had crashed and burned flashing across her memory. She shifted her bag on her shoulder and swiped her short, brown bangs out of her eyes with a slight grimace of frustration; the platform just beyond the dock was packed, how was she supposed to find one guy out of everyone? She had never even seen him before, since they were paired up with other students from different branches of the Academy.

She hadn't been told much; just to look for a somewhat short guy with black hair, hazel eyes, a Xatu, probably carrying a cane, and that he would let her in on the big secret surrounding their mission. She smirked at the thought of looking for a guy with a cane, what, did he think he was better than everyone else? He was supposed to be about her age, and she was sixteen. Yeah, she decided, he probably had one hell of an ego. In her experience, most guys around that age did.

Coming onto the platform, she felt a familiar tug on her jacket sleeve and chuckled. Her Golduck, Fedor, was pointing at someone, and when Kaylee looked, lo and behold, there he was. She made her way over, fighting through the throngs of people, waving at the young man in an attempt at being friendly. A gesture which, to her annoyance, he didn't even acknowledge. Well, she might've had something there about being an as- jerk. She meant jerk. She really needed to work on her swearing. He just continued staring blankly out into the crowd, seeming to make an attempt at scanning the area just above the crowd every now and then. It was like the other people weren't even registering in his vision.

Kaylee quickly realized why he seemed so aloof when she finally broke through with Fedor clinging to her, stumbling and looking back as though the crowd were a pack of snarling dogs; her thin frame was great for Ranger work, just not traversing large groups of people. When she looked the boy over, her eyes were drawn to the white cane he held. She had seen something like it before: blind people usually carried th- oh. That explained things, she thought, now starting to feel pretty sorry for him. Pokemon Rangers had dangerous jobs -it was incredibly hard even when you could see- and Kaylee couldn't even imagine how he managed it while completely blind. He matched her description though, even down to being a few inches shorter than her.

Suddenly something seemed to capture his attention, and he looked to his side, Kaylee then noticing the Xatu standing dutifully at his side, quietly chirruping and tugging his sleeve in her direction with his beak. "Oh, is she here already?" He asked, laughing sheepishly. "Looks like I spaced again, huh?" He looked at her, sort of; his gaze was aimed over her head, and offered his hand. "My name is William, though I go by Will, and this is Serrath. It's nice to meet you." The tribal-looking bird nodded, and Kaylee saw an amused smile cross his eyes.

Kaylee took his hand, somewhat surprised by the strong handshake, and nodded. "I'm Kaylee, and my partner's name is Fedor. Ah! He's a Golduck, by the way, um, it's nice to meet you too." Geez, she sounded so awkward. She almost wanted to slap herself. She had probably offended him or something, which she honestly hoped to avoid at all costs. Now Serrath seemed to be laughing quietly, and while she couldn't do anything about him or the blush that spread over her face, a quick elbow to a certain Golduck's ribs made his chuckling halt. The Water-type could be such a smartass sometimes. Oops, she let one slip.

Will seemed to sense her embarrassment and chuckled before giving her a comforting smile. "You honestly can't offend me, don't worry about it. I've heard just about everything in the book, along with some more creative things. Come on, let's get somewhere less…noisy." He turned and led her to a sleepy café, tapping the ground in front of him the whole way with his cane.

Once inside they had a seat, and Kaylee got a chance to smooth her no doubt ruffled appearance a bit. A hand was run through her boy-short hair, glasses were wiped on the shirt she wore under her standard-issue Ranger jacket, and a look was thrown at Fedor when he rolled his eyes. She loved the Golduck like a brother, she really did, but like brothers, he got under her skin and teased her whenever he could. So what if Will couldn't see, everyone else in the café could.

"So I assume you don't know anything about our mission?" He asked.

"Right. I was told that you'd tell me everything. Unless that was a prank, the teachers at my branch love doing that…" She added, thinking about the huge laugh they would be having, especially if they had done that to all the students. It was cruel, yes, but definitely something they would do.

Will laughed sympathetically. "I know how that is, our instructors were real pranksters too. Don't worry, I checked the envelope and had Serrath tell me what was inside, so we're good." He reached into his own bag and pulled out a manila envelope, which was promptly opened and eagerly pored over by Kaylee.

"So people are poaching Surskit and Chimecho on Mt. Eles, and we're supposed to stop it? That's almost three days' walk from here, and we'll have to make sure we get everything we'll need here." She started looking over the map of the region; a little-known group of islands called Selnacia, and quickly found Mt. Eles. It was the biggest mountain on the main island, after all. It made sense though, the peak of Mt. Eles was known for having larger populations of wild Surskit and Chimecho than anywhere else, though they were still considered fairly rare.

"Sounds about right-" Will was about to say something else when his phone went off, playing the theme of some horror movie Kaylee could barely remember. "That's my branch, I'll be right back." She couldn't help laughing as he stood; she liked his sense of humor already. He flashed an apologetic smile before walking outside to take the call. After a few moments, he came back. "Apparently we'll be getting another group member before we leave. Someone's partner got sick at the last moment, and I guess begging and pleading actually worked this time. They should be arriving soon, let's get our supplies while we wait."

Kaylee smiled and stood. "Sounds good, we can kill two birds with one stone. So did you get any information about what they look like, or a name?"

"No name, just that they'll be wearing the same jacket as us." He shrugged, slipping his phone back in his pocket. "At least people say it stands out. I think they said we're wearing red or something. Oh well, I'm sure we'll find 'em eventually. We've got a little over a month and a half for the mission, remember?"

"Oh yeah." They left, looking for the nearest store. They needed to make sure the Pokemon were taken care of first, then get traveling supplies, then food for themselves. Oh, and manage to track down their other partner, but they would probably find them first.


	2. Chapter 2

**I still don't own Pokemon, which is probably a good thing. Will and Kaylee are all mine, but Ars is the property of a close friend (Thanks for letting me use him, Persona-Memories!).**

Will and Kaylee had just gotten finished with their shopping, and had stored everything away in their bags when something barreled into the blind Ranger. With a small yelp, he fell, feeling a familiar weight land on top of him and an oddly stretchy arm cushion his head as they hit the pavement. By her obscene shout of surprise, Will guessed that Kaylee hadn't seen it coming either, but since Serrath wasn't freaking out Will only had one guess as to who it was.

"Ars! Come get Xera off of me!" He exclaimed, laughing as the Breloom affectionately nuzzled his cheek. He lightly rubbed the Pokemon's mushroom-like head as a hand grasped his and hauled him to his feet.

"Sorry 'bout that, she saw you and just took off before I could even blink. She didn't hurt you, did she?" Will could almost see the look of concern on his friend's face, and it honestly bothered him. Ars worried too much as it was, he didn't need to add to that list.

Will shook his head, laughing. "Come on, I don't look that breakable, do I?"

Ars chuckled, apparently deciding to ignore that question, before clapping a hand on his shoulder. "Looks like we're partners again, huh?"

"Yep." Will focused on gently prying the ever-cuddly Xera off of him while Ars and Kaylee said hello to each other. Well, at least it seemed that the initial shock of seeing her partner get tackled was starting to wear off; she didn't sound surprised anymore. "So did they tell you what the mission was, or were you left in the dark?"

"They told me; yeah, I was surprised too." Ars added as a look of surprise crossed Will's face. "So you guys have everything? And who's your pretty friend there Will?"

Will felt a sharp elbow nudge his side, Ars being as gentle with him as ever. "Yeah, we're good. This is Kaylee. She's our partner on this too, so play nice." He returned the teasing grin that he knew was planted solidly on Ars' face. He knew that to many, Ars looked rather rough or gloomy, even intimidating to some. He was tall, lanky, his hair was always doing whatever it pleased or falling in his eyes, and sometimes Will just couldn't help teasing him a bit.

Will could hear Xera and Serrath chattering nearby, and even heard Fedor joining in every now and then; at least they seemed to be hitting it off, if the occasional outbursts of laughter were anything to go by. They were following their Ranger partners, completely lost in their own conversation. "Come on, let's get going. I'd rather get this mission done a few days early than be late and flunk; you know how the higher-ups are about their schedules."

"Very true, plus I'd rather not face the chewing-out we'd get; you know how endangered Chimecho and Surskit are as it is." Kaylee chimed in, falling in to Will's right as they started walking. "Wait, we do know how to get to Mt. Eles…right?" He heard her ask a few moments later, uncertainty becoming visible in her voice. "I'm pretty sure that getting lost in the forest is definitely not good for staying on schedule."

Will nodded and reached into the side pocket of his bag, quickly fishing out a folded, laminated rectangle. "I've got us covered; the storekeeper said that this is the best map of the area available. He said it even had all the pathways marked down on it."

Long fingers brushed against Will's as the map was taken, and he heard Ars laugh after it was unfolded. "Wow, he wasn't lying, this thing looks like a bowl of green and grey spaghetti! At least we can read it though, unlike when we were sent to Mt. Silver last year."

"You guys were sent _there_?" Kaylee asked in alarm; everyone knew that Mt. Silver was dangerous, even if one didn't believe that a legend lived at the peak. The Pokemon were practically feral, the inside was a labyrinth, and hypothermia was a constant threat. It definitely wasn't a nighttime stroll through Kanto's Mt. Moon, by any means. "I thought that place was absolutely off-limits to Academy students!"

Will spoke up, grinning sheepishly at her. "Well…it wasn't like that until last year. I can't say that we didn't play a part in that rule getting thrown in, but those three Steelix definitely started it. I mean, all we did was accidentally splash it when we went down a waterfall on our way back down. How were we supposed to know that it would go berserk and call its buddies for help?" He thought for a moment, before continuing with a nudge to Ars' elbow and a playful grin. "Although, maybe if you hadn't yelled at them Ars, they wouldn't have been so rough with us."

"Hey, they broke your leg with one of those Rock Throws! I couldn't just stand there and let 'em do that…" He could almost hear the pout in Ars' voice, a vast change in how he had sounded that day.

"I know, though I've gotta say, for a few moments during that battle I was actually a bit more afraid of _you_ than I was the rampaging Steelix; I'd never heard you get so angry. I can only imagine how the Instructors looked when we came back all dirty, bloody, me on your back, and with the news that there were three fewer Steelix to worry about in the area."

Will heard Kaylee sigh and could almost imagine her shaking her head with a look that read 'What have I gotten myself into?'. "At least there's not supposed to be any Steelix on this island, or I'd be nervous about traveling with you two. I prefer my bones intact, after all- Ah, here's the path we want, shall we be off?" She asked as they approached the edge of town, where the noise began to fade to a more natural sort of quiet.

"Absolutely, ladies first!" Ars chirped, polite as always.

Kaylee laughed and continued forward before being followed by Will and Ars; Ars had probably done some sort of silly bow or something, like he often did when he started to feel comfortable around someone. "Hey guys, just promise me one thing, okay?" Will looked up, though a flash of amusement from Serrath told him that it likely wasn't too serious of a promise. "Let's try to _not_ get ourselves killed, okay? I don't want this place to become off-limits too." The smirk in Kaylee's voice made Will counter by shouldering his cane and winking in her direction.

"No promises, but we'll try. If those poachers have any Steelix though, all bets are off!"


End file.
